Ponant Sydney Noumea Yacht Race 2025

News
2025
PONANT Sydney Noumea Yacht Race – a long time coming

PONANT Sydney Noumea Yacht Race – a long time coming

NEWS
14 Apr, 2025 09:30:00 AM

PONANT Sydney Noumea Yacht Race – a long time coming

The Sydney Noumea Yacht Race was first run in 1953, and in the 1970s it became a biennial event through to the 1990s.

After a 25-year hiatus, the race was resurrected in 2018. But then Covid-19 and travel restrictions forced the race into mothballs.

But on May 31 the race, organised by the CYCA, will make a much-anticipated return to offshore sailing calendars for its 12th edition.

At the time of publication, five yachts had signed on to sail up Australia’s East Coast and across the Coral Sea to New Caledonia’s capital Noumea. The competitors are Awen, Esprit, Llama II, Pacman and Serene Summer.

Greta Quealy caught up with the competitors.

Awen

Sharon Ferris-Choat’s sailing resume is one to brag about.

The Canadian-born New Zealander has raced around the world three-times. A two-time Olympian, Ferris-Choat has broken a number of world speed records, including Antigua to Newport and Round Britain and Ireland.

She’s about to add another feather to her bow. Ferris-Choat will skipper David Hows’ IMOCA Open 60 Awen in the 2025 PONANT Sydney Noumea Yacht Race. Awen was purpose-built in 2003 to compete in the Vendee Globe (originally launched as Ecover 2).

The yacht is in the Ocean Sailing Expeditions (OSE) fleet, which offers sailors the chance to crew on a competitive vessel led by highly experienced racers. Ferris-Choat is OSE’s Race Program Director.

Ferris-Choat can’t wait to compete in the 1.064-nautical-mile-race.

“I haven’t actually raced east out of Australia before,” Ferris-Choat said. “I’ve only ever brought back boats from the islands [Pacific Ocean] to Australia, not the other way. So, I’m looking forward to that challenge.”

The team’s preparation in the lead up to the race is in stark contrast to their intense schedule before the 2024 Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race. Awen placed 14th on Line Honours and 13th on PHS Overall. Ferris-Choat was elated with this result, considering that Awen was only bought in October 2024, less than two months before the race.

“November and December were absolutely full on,” Ferris-Choat said. “I hope that this time we can be a little bit more relaxed and have more things in place to take it [our sailing] to the next level.”

The “mixed experience” crew will have four days of preparation ahead of the race, and all crew members are required to have competed in at least one passage race or race week.

Ferris-Choat said if the yacht can keep an average speed of 15-knots, they should complete the race in three to four days.

Michael Martin’s Frantic currently holds the race record. In 2018, the TP52 completed the race in four days, two hours and 23 minutes.

“It will all depend on what Huey [the weather] dishes out,” Ferris-Choat said.

Pacman

Sailing 1064-nautical-miles double-handed is a difficult task. But it helps when the co-skippers have known each other for 30 years.

That’s the case for Peter Elkington and Scott Cavanough, co-skippers of the Young 11 Pacman – the only Double Handed entry in the race.

In an interview with the ABC’s Andrew McGarry, Elkington outlined how trust between co-skippers is key to successfully racing double handed.

"It's a trust thing,” Elkington said. “He [Cavanough] knows the way I think, I know the way he thinks, he knows my strengths and weaknesses and I know his … it comes down to trust.

"I'm more focused on tactics and navigation, he's more the bowman — he tends to work outside. It means he or I can go to sleep knowing if something has to be done, it will get done."

Elkington and Cavanough are both accomplished sailors.

Elkington has competed in 17 Sydney Hobarts, many of them as navigator on some of the fastest yachts in the fleet including Peter Harburg’s Black Jack yachts (the Reichel Pugh 66 and Volvo 70). Cavanough has a plethora of shorthanded sailing experience, including winning the 2011/12 Global Ocean Race with co-skipper Conrad Colman.

The pair have raced in their last three Sydney Hobarts (2022, ’23 and ’24) together aboard Pacman. Their best result was second on Double Handed IRC in 2022.

They both have an affinity for offshore sailing, which puts them in a good position ahead of the Sydney Noumea.

"What I really like about it [offshore racing] is we switch off from the rest of the world,” Elkington told the ABC. “We're just concentrating on our jobs and sailing. And I really like the boat, being out there by myself (or with one other person), and the challenge of doing everything myself.

"It's different from the rest of life, going at a million miles an hour, but here the job is just to do this. The rest of the world, that doesn't really matter — it's just the best [feeling]."

Llama II

Third time’s the charm for Jon Linton’s Dehler 46 Llama II.

The cruiser/racer was set to compete in the Sydney Noumea Yacht Race in 2020 and 2024. Both were postponed – 2020 due to Covid-19 and 2024 because of the Australian Government’s travel advice in response to civil unrest in New Caledonia.

Linton and his crew of nine are raring to go.

“I'm now starting to think I'm the root cause of all these races getting cancelled,” he joked.

This race will be a continuation of what Linton described as his “sailing gap year”.

Earlier this year, Linton along with two of the Llama II crew members, sailed a Beneteau 46 across the Atlantic Ocean. And in November last year, he also helped them sail the yacht from Greece to the Canary Islands.

Linton first discovered his love of long-distance sailing when he sailed Llama II from Sydney to Hamilton Island and back multiple times.

“It became clear that we really enjoyed that [longer trips], and it was a lot of fun spending a bit more time going a little bit further,” Linton said.

Linton estimates that it will take Llama II around five to seven days to complete the race. If the wind replicates the Trade Winds which the 2018 fleet enjoyed, it will be closer to five days.

Llama II competed in the 2022 Sydney Hobart. When comparing the Sydney Hobart conditions to Sydney Noumea, Linton said:

“[Sydney] Hobart I think is different because the conditions are generally more variable, and you've got to prepare for a wider range of potential outcomes.”

After the race, Linton plans to explore Vanuatu and Fiji before heading back to Australia in time for Airlie Beach and Hamilton Island race weeks in August.

Serene Summer

The Sydney Noumea will be the first Category 1 race for Tina Courtenay’s Tayanna 55 Serene Summer.

Courtenay will be joined by four crew members for this journey east.

“We are just wanting to gain experience and gel as a team,” Courtenay said.

Courtenay reckons it will take around five days to get to the finish line. To make the trip more comfortable, she has decked out the yacht with essential luxuries. And the crew will enjoy French cuisine prepared by Courtenay, a graduate of a French cookery course at Sydney Cooking School, Neutral Bay.

While in New Caledonia, Courtenay and her crew plan to dine on fresh seafood and green papaya salad at Baie des Citrons (Lemon Bay), “go shopping at the outdoor market and visit the Parc zoologique et Forestier to say hello to a Cagou bird [endemic to New Caledonia]”.

Courtenay is looking forward to the race.

“I have the respect of my crew and faith in my own abilities to make this the exciting adventure of a lifetime,” Courtenay said.